


This is not a Hallmark movie - or is it?

by tallestgirlonearth



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Barisi Valentine's Cliché Challenge, M/M, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, prompt 4, prompt 9
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:15:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29129361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tallestgirlonearth/pseuds/tallestgirlonearth
Summary: The Carisi siblings meet up once a month for brunch. These meetings involve a lot of teasing (mostly good-natured), several pitchers of mimosas and, if it's February, a play-by-play dissection of each siblings Valentine's Day activities.Sound stressful? Well, that rather depends on your relationship status, as Sonny can tell you.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 45
Collections: Barisi Valentine’s Cliché Challenge





	This is not a Hallmark movie - or is it?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Barisi nation :) My first entry for a BFE challenge, and I'm excited!! This was written for prompt 4 "wine and dine him" and prompt 9 "where's the romance gone". 
> 
> Enjoy the cavity-inducing fluff and please drop a kudos/comment if you did!

**Wine and dine him**

“It’s not _fair_ ,” Sonny wails, running a hand through his hair and completely ruining the styling. “He could come by any time of the day, or he could just stay at One Hogan because Lieu would send me over with his files anyway, but no, he walks in the door just when Amaro pours his stupid coffee all over my crotch and I stand there looking like the biggest idiot in the universe. As if he didn’t already think I’m ridiculous anyway. He’s so… _God._ Nothing ever fazes him. He’s cool, he’s smooth and so freaking sharp and when I see him in those stupid three-piece suits I just wanna tear them off him.”

The _he_ and _him_ in question would be Assistant District Attorney Rafael Barba.

The bane to Sonny’s professional demeanour and the stuff his dreams are made of.

Bella snickers and takes a huge gulp of her mimosa.

Gina rolls her eyes at him. “Really, Sonny? You’ve been working at Manhattan SVU for how long now and you still don’t have any topic other than how you have the hots for the ADA?”

Right. It’s been two years and Sonny is completely pathetic. He doesn’t have any excuses, either, because ever since he met Barba, he’s been unloading to his sisters at their monthly brunch. They know the whole extent of his desperation.

Teresa twists the knife a little more.

“Still haven’t gotten a suck on that Cuban cigar, brother dear? With how eager you always are, I would’ve thought you’d have made a move by now.”

Gina chimes in and corrects her sister. “Nah, T, he wouldn’t. Our Sonny apparently has a little hero-worship going on,” a little side glance, “he’d wait for Barba to make the first move so he can prove what a good little detective he can be.”

Sonny is beet red, both in embarrassment and frustration. He’s well aware that his sisters can be a crude bunch, and he knows they don’t mean harm, they’re just teasing. However, he simply cannot find it in himself to play along any more.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” he mutters, tiredly pressing his fingers into his eyelids. He’s feeling those mimosas and just wants to go back home, curl into himself on his sofa and try to forget about his hopeless situation.

He’s shaken out of it by Bella’s hand resting gently on his arm. She looks at him with a soft expression and says quietly, “oh, stop it, you two. Need I remind you that you’re both single and you haven’t actually met someone you _really_ liked in ages?”

Damn. Sonny’s never said anything aloud, but Bella has clearly noticed that his feelings for Barba go a little deeper than sexual desire.

Alright.

A lot deeper.

He’s probably not subtle about it, so he really can’t blame his younger sister for being nosy. Besides, even when she’s snooping around in his business, she does it because she wants to help.

“It’s Valentine’s Day soon, why don’t you do something for Barba?”

Case in point.

“ _God_ no, Bells! You’ve met the man! He doesn’t do lovey-dovey, hell; he’d laugh me out of the room and never give me another sassy comeback ever again.”

Teresa won’t let it go. “Well, what type is he? You’ve met him, Bells, give us the deets.”

“He’s the fancy type who’d be completely out of Sonny’s league, if it wasn’t for the fact that underneath the suits and the peacocking there’s a genuinely good-hearted guy. And I would know, since he got Tommy off and all and even was nice about the whole drama.”

Sonny flushes, thinking back to that trial and how mortified he was that Barba had to deal with the Carisi-Sullivan family issues. Bella’s not wrong though, the ADA had rather saved the day for all of them.

“Well, if Sonny’s hot piece of a-, of _attorney_ , isn’t the classic Hallmark guy, I might have just the thing.”

All heads swivel around to look at Gina. She grins.

“You know how Robert does a lot of business with restaurants and bars and stuff?” Robert is Gina’s man of the hour, and he’s actually an investor of some sort. “He helped Daniel Humm set up his restaurant back in the day and they still get along pretty well. If you wanted, I’m sure Robert could get you a table for two at 11 Madison Park.”

11 Madison Park is a place so swanky Sonny has only heard of it, offering American-style fine dining in an Art Deco building. It’s extremely popular and Sonny is moderately sure Barba would like it.

“You think that would be a good move?”

“Oh, come on, Sonny! You’ve been moaning about your unrequited crush for two years! It’s not about making a good move, it’s about making a move at all! Or do you want to wait until your man has found someone else?”

“No…yeah, maybe you’re right, T.”

“You know damn well I’m right. Wine and dine him, Sonny. Just go into his office, tell him you lucked into a reservation, and ask him out.”

 _Just ask him out,_ Sonny thinks. If only things were that easy.

**Where's the romance gone?**

In retrospect, Sonny has learned that, yes, things can in fact be that easy. Sometimes, all it takes is for his nerves to run wild so he just blurts his innermost desires out without a second thought.

Asking Rafael out on that first date was a heady rush of adrenaline, scary but amazing at the same time.

Just like the first “I love you” (it was Sonny who said it first, but Rafael didn’t hesitate even a second before replying in kind).

Just like moving in.

Just like saying “yes” when Rafi proposed to him.

Three years after a simple but beautiful wedding, seven years after that first date at 11 Madison Park, Sonny is still deliriously happy. His love for Rafael has changed over the years, shifting in hue just like light breaking through a prism, but it’s never wavered or waned.

These days, their relationship is less about the excitement of finding someone so perfect that he couldn’t possibly exist. Instead, it’s about companionship, about sharing a life in all the small and big ways, and about the security of knowing they’ll be together forever.

It’s sappy as hell, but it’s _them._ Rafi and Sonny, like it was always meant to be.

Another fixture in Sonny’s life that will never go away is the monthly Carisi siblings brunch. They’re all older and have seen plenty of good and bad in their lives, but his three sisters could still out-shout a football stadium.

“What?? Mario actually suggested a double date? On _Valentine’s Day?_ And you said _yes?_ ”

He’s currently not the focus of the interrogation, but Gina is.

“I did, stop shouting at me, Teresa! It was sweet, and we actually had a fantastic time. Less pressure all around, you know? It wasn’t a real double date anyway, it was one of those places where everyone sits together at one long table.”

Gina’s been dating a guy called Mario for a while now and, yes, dating without an engagement in sight. It’s encouraging to see her not rushing into a relationship for a change, just as it is refreshing to see her be less selfish and willing to share her boyfriend’s time with other people. 

After having tactfully glossed over Teresa’s dateless evening and some laughter at Bella and Tommy’s celebration (consoling their daughter who didn’t get any Valentine’s cards), they finally focus on Sonny.

“So, little brother, what did you guys do? Broadway show? Spectacular dinner? Overnight getaway to a pretty little boutique hotel?”

Sonny laughs. After three years of being Mr. Barba-Carisi, his family knows that Rafael is a lot less fancy than he seems. Sure, he’s about as sophisticated as you’d expect a Harvard alum to be, but he’s also just a man with a humble background who enjoys the little things in life. If his sisters continue teasing, it’s just because their first date involved the clichéd wining and dining.

“Nah. We, uh, just stayed in and made dinner together. I made _ropa vieja,_ and he prepared a mean tiramisu. Cuban-Italian fusion night, y’know.”

Bella smiles at his last sentence, because, Cuban-Italian fusion, is there any better way to describe their relationship?

Gina and Teresa stare at him in disbelief.

“Really? Isn’t that what you do basically every day, cooking for each other? Where’s the romance gone, Sonny?”

“Yeah, it is.” Sonny smiles “We make dinner together, and I know that Rafi and I will get to do it all again tomorrow. And all the days after. There’s not a thing more romantic than that.”

Judging by the slightly awed silence around the table, his sisters agree.


End file.
